Earl Bloodworth

Executive Director

CT Against Gun Violence

In 2024, Earl Bloodworth was named the Executive Director of CT Against Gun Violence (CAGV). “I’m honored to step into this role with CAGV, an organization that has tirelessly championed safer communities and life-saving policies for over three decades. As we face new and evolving challenges in our work to end gun violence, I am committed to building on CAGV’s legacy of advocacy and collaboration to push forward common-sense measures that protect Connecticut families and future generations in every community across our state.”

Most recently, Mr. Bloodworth led the Department of Reentry for the City of Bridgeport as the Director of the Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs. There, he worked with government agencies, city officials and community partners to ensure that justice-impacted individuals returning to the community got access to the resources they needed to become productive members of the community. Earl’s efforts led to the first-ever reentry grants awarded to the City of Bridgeport and a significant expansion of the department to serve the needs of its clients.

Earl has extensive experience in legislative advocacy. He served as the Information Officer for the CT General Assembly African American Affairs Commission. Additionally, Earl advocated for and assisted in a campaign to pass the 2021 clean slate legislation and helped lead the campaign that restored voting rights to individuals on parole. Restoring the freedom to vote is associated with lower rates of recidivism.

Helping justice-impacted individuals navigate the challenges of poverty and systemic racism is foundational to preventing the interpersonal gun violence that disproportionately affects communities of color in Connecticut’s urban centers. Securing funding for the types of community-based programs that Bloodworth designed and managed has been a focus of CAGV’s recent advocacy work, which led to the creation of the Office of Firearm Injury Prevention and unprecedented levels of grant funding budgeted by the Lamont administration and appropriated by the CT General Assembly.